Dawn Richard — Celeb Crush

Dawn Richard's brand of R&B is weird. The good kind of weird; we're into it. We're also into that spike bra, but we swear there's more to it than that.

Dawn is a 29-year-old babe who was born and raised in New Orleans, LA. She currently resides in Baltimore, MD after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Of African-American and Haitian descent, Richard was raised by her father, lead singer/percussionist of Funk/Soul legends 'Chocolate Milk,' and her dance school-owning mother. She spent most of her childhood developing her passions for music and dance.

In 2005, she auditioned for MTV's 'Making the Band 3' in Orlando, and was chosen for Sean "Puffy" Combs' girl group, 'Danity Kane,' who eventually signed with Bad Boy Records. The name of the band came from one of Richard's manga drawings of a female superhero.

In 2011 'Danity Kane' disbanded, and Richard left Bad Boy Records to begin her solo career, announcing plans for the release of a trilogy of albums entitled 'GoldenHeart, BlackHeart and RedemptionHeart.' GoldenHeart will be released on Jan 15, and you can pre-order it on her website.

Her sound is touted as "Progressive R&B," combining smooth, bluesy vocals with dance beats and weird, weird sound effects that we kind of can't get enough of. Her music is the kind that sneaks up on you, and before you know it you're in love. Check out a sneak peek of her release over at TheDrop.fm.